Imperfect Timing
by SargentAngua
Summary: This shouldn't have happened. It would have been better if Tenten had never found out, but she did. The timing was Imperfect, and she couldn't handle it at the time. Maybe, she can drag a suicidal blond down the long road of recovery with her. NaruxTen
1. An Imperfect Meeting

A/N: So, this is my new story, Imperfect timing! It's much darker than my other fic, but I've had more experience so I hope it reads a bit better than The Perfect Housewife. If you have not read my other fic, it's a ShikaTen fic with a sequel coming out soon! Enjoy!

This fic is written in 3 points of view (All first-person)- Naruto's, Tenten's and a watcher who you'll find out later who it is.

I'm doing one disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any copywriten names or products used within this writing. This is a work of fan-fiction and the plot alone is what I have claim to.

Imperfect Timing- by SargentAngua

An Imperfect Meeting

Beer. It's a simple name for a simple drink for simple people, but it brings complicated problems, such as:

money

responsibilities

more money

forgetfulness

.

Why do you drink? To forget

What do you do about the problems? Drink to forget.

What do you do when they become worse? Drink to forget.

.

An Imperfect system, sure, but at least you are happy for a time. Of course, going on a mission with a hangover is not good, so, instead of training, I worked on a jutsu, "No-Hangover-No-Jutsu!" Don't make fun of the name, it works! You may act like an idiot for about five minutes, but then you're fine. Then, you remember that you forgot to train today, and drink to forget.

.

Average day

Get up in the trash heap, get ready for another day.

Walk to training, people throw stones and call names.

Stop for Ramen. Ignore the yells behind me.

Go to training

Get called an idiot

Act happy

Die inside

Average day

I'm so sick of it all. I don't even care anymore about Hokage. There's no way they would accept me. I've tried for what? 18 years and they don't care. I've saved this city more times than I can count! Do they care? No. They only care about their property being damaged by my attacks. I went on a two-month-mission to Suna, and they had accepted Garra, but, no, even they didn't accept me, because the nine-tails is the most powerful, it MUST be nine-times less stable than Garra. I was even shunned there. I could become a missing-nin, but I couldn't become a Sasuke. I'm just sick of everything.

.

Tenten was happy. She was also drunk. She was happy because she couldn't remember why she was sad. Then, she remembered, so she pulled out another bottle, or tried to. She was out. That wasn't good. She began walking to the store, when she saw an object falling towards her. Even though she was drunk, ninjas have some instincts drilled into them. She quickly (but not nin-speed) pulled out a net connected to four kuni. She threw it in a way that all kuni hit either a nearby building or tree, however, she was so drunk that she missed with one (That's right, Tenten MISSED). So, the object, while it hit the net and was saved, it rolled off the side that wasn't secure and landed right on top of a very drunk Tenten. Then, it spoke.

"Well, this is awkward."

Tenten gave a drunk giggle.

I watched from behind a tree, amused at the show.

"Well, this is awkward."

My plan had been simple, jump from the Hokage tower and die. I could have easily saved myself, but I just wanted it all gone. Now I was in the arms of a very drunk, older girl who I've only met once or twice. I thought of a solution to at least one of the problems, a basic medical jutsu that Tsunade had taught me who help deal with training with Jiraiya , an anti-toxin jutsu that also works as an anti-drunk jutsu because he's take me drinking since I'm 18 now. I used it on her, very quickly, while she was giggling. Slowly, I watched as her face changed from happy to serious. Seemed like it worked. Suddenly, she was mad.

"Why the hell'd you have to do that!" She was, to say the least, angry, "I had forgotten! I was happy! It was funny! What the hell Naruto? Next time you feel like throwing yourself off the Hokage tower, I won't be there to save you!"

This wasn't the happy weapons master that I had met only a few years ago. What happened to her? And, forgotten what? What had made her this way? I thought of my suicide attempt, and decided,

'I'll stab myself with a kuni later, I want to see what's going on first.'

Damn you Naruto and your detoxification! You ruined my few hours of drunken bliss. Go kill yourself, for all I care! Now, where was I going again? Oh, to get more beer. I'll need to turn around and possibly run into Naruto again to get more, is it worth it? Yes.

She was coming back. Where was she heading, anyway? I decided to follow her.

He was following me. Oh well! It's not like I'm breaking any laws! I'm 19! Well old enough to buy a few cases of beer!

She was buying... beer. This was a major problem. How did she go on missions like this? Where did she live if all her money went to beer? Probably a place like mine, but my money doesn't go to beer. How does she even get enough money for all that beer? Nin are paid a living wage, but not THAT high, and we need new equipment and stuff. Where was the money coming from? I decided to follow her home, just to see.

He was still following me. Creeper. I pulled a can out of a case and began walking as I drunk. If I drunk enough, he wouldn't be there anymore.

She was... drinking as she walked. Only a ninja could walk calmly along, balancing five cases of beer in one hand, and drinking in the other. I found a new respect for this woman at that feat. Finally, she reached her house. Yes, I mean house, not junky apartment like mine. In fact, it was a very large house, in a large complex of houses. However, there was something familiar about this complex. It was empty, all but the house that Tenten "lived" in. The quotes are because it was a nice house, but she seemed to be the only one in it, and it seemed like she didn't take care of it at all. She sat down, turned on the TV, and started drinking again. I saw that she wasn't going to stop anytime soon, so I turned around and left. But, as I left, I remembered why this complex seemed so familiar. It was... the Uchiha Complex. But, Tenten wasn't a Uchiha, was she? They were all dead. In fact, what was her family name? I never learned it. If she's not an Uchiha, why is she living at the complex? Great, one more mystery...

A/N: Yeah, that's right, a suicidal Naruto and an alcoholic Tenten with something that she wants to forget. Hopefully there will be more updates in the very near-future (As in, tomorrow) so don't complain about short chappies, I try to make them all over 1000 words, and I'll update really fast! So, Here it is! Please review! I'm a beginning writer and need a lot of advise! Oh! Guess who the invisible watcher is! I'll give a cookie to everyone who guesses it right!


	2. An Imperfect Training Session

A/N: I got a review! It's not a very... detailed review! But at least someone read it and clicked that magical button on the bottom! I also got a surprising number of faves and alerts. Was it that good? Maybe I'm just used to the tiny number of people who read ShikaTen. I guess NaruTen is more popular, and I do have one story already finished, so I guess some could be return-readers. GO YOU IF YOU ARE! YOU ROCK! Wow, anyway, here's the next chappie of Imperfect Timing!

An Imperfect Training Session

"Tenten! Wake up!" I heard the voice. "Mother?" She was the only one to ever wake me up like that. Did I drink too much and die? That's disappointing, not the dying, I just mean, alcoholic overdose? What a lame way to go! But, wait, that voice was male, and I had that horrible headache. Yep I'm still alive. Slowly, I sat up. Naruto was there. Just who I was hoping for. (please notice the sarcasm dripping from my voice.) "What do you want, Naruto?"

"To talk."

"It's before noon, why am I awake?"

"Because you need to sober up and get back to being a real ninja."

"I go on missions."

"When did you last train?"

I though about it for a minute. Then I remembered. "Last week! Neji wanted to see how much I improved since two months ago when we last sparred."

"What did he say about your improvements?"

"He wondered if I was ill."

"My point exactly."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"What happened to you, Tenten."

"None of your business." Like hell I'd tell him. "Why were you jumping from the Hokage tower?"

"None of your business. But..." a sly grin crossed his face, "I'll tell you if you tell me why you are like this."

"Fine, I found out something."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "If you're going to answer me that way, I'll answer you this way: I was going to kill myself."

I stared in horror at the blonde. "You-you what!" I had thought that it was probably some part of extreme training, like Lee did. Why would the always-happy-nin take his own life?

He gaped at me, "Wasn't it obvious? Oh, wait, you were drunk at the time, so you probably didn't remember me not trying to save myself in any way or break my fall. Wow, you WERE drunk. You even MISSED with one of your kuni. Tenten, we're going to go train, now.

"One second." I'd go train with him, I was out of practice. "Anti-hangover-jutsu!"

Headache was gone.

"You're drunk often enough that you made a jutsu just to get rid of the hangovers? That's dedication." He actually seemed impressed.

I watched from a distance. This was getting more and more interesting by the minute.

This. Training. Was. Almost. As. Extreme. As. Training. With. Lee. It really was THAT BAD. At least he took me to ramen at lunch. Wow, this place was really good! No wonder he ate 22 bowls of the stuff! I ate two myself! Then, we went back to training.

When I got home, I only needed two beers before I fell asleep. It was actually a fun day. Well, as fun as a day can be. I even forgot, for a while.

That was a cool day! I skipped training with my usual teammates to help Tenten! She's actually a pretty nice girl when she's not drunk. But, it seemed like something was always on her mind, something depressing her. Kind of like me when I first found out about the fox. Actually, still, about the fox. That's one of the reasons I tried to kill myself, I would kill it with me, and then I might be free. But, nothing could haunt her as much as the fox. I'm the only one like me in Kohona. What did she find out? What is she trying to forget? At times, it seemed like it was always on her mind. That's why I made the training so intense, because there were brief times when she wasn't thinking about it. I could tell because she became more coordinated, happier, and a much better opponent. Then, something would happen, and she would remember, and she was back to the depressing woman I saw this morning. I'll train with her tomorrow, too, if nothing else, she'll be in better shape for her ninja duties. I followed her again tonight, and she only had two beers. Maybe, if I exhaust her enough, she won't need them every night.

That night, I had another nightmare. I must have not gone to sleep drunk enough. I saw him, his red eyes burning into me. I was on fire, I was- Naruto woke me up. This routine continued for several days., every day, he helped me. He didn't train with his team, he just came woke me up, trained with me, bought me lunch, and sparred until dinner, which he would also buy me. It was great. I didn't need beer to sleep anymore, but I still drank two to keep the nightmares away. The red eyes burned whenever I slept.

One week later...

"Wake up Tenten! We're going training again!" I yelled in her ear. She seemed to be having a nightmare. I still wondered why she slept on the couch of a Uchiha house. Maybe, she spent all her money on alcohol and just used this place. It would be very dishonorable if that was so. Couldn't she just go home? Did she even have a home? What was her family name? After she was ready to go (Yes, she used anti-hangover again before getting dressed) I asked, "Tenten, what's your name?"

She seemed confused by this question, "Tenten..."

"No, I mean your full name."

She got the depressed look that she got whenever she thought about 'IT'

"Tenten, just Tenten."

I was going to leave it at that and was about to leave when she stopped me.

"No, Naruto, you're the most honest person I know, you've done nothing but help me this past week. You deserve a real answer to that simple question, but please don't ask more. My name, my real name is Uchiha Tenten."

A/N: Yay! Part of Tenten's big secret is out! They've met and started training together. What could go wrong? Well, may things, specifically what happens next chapter in... An Imperfect Plot Twist (Well. Maybe not that name but... you get the idea) However, you never find out the rest unless I have the inspiration to write it. Do you know where the inspiration comes from? REVIEWS! :D PLESE REVIEW!


	3. An Imperfect Plan

First... to my reviewers:

Notgonnasay09: Yeah, about the page breaks, I just realized that OpenOffice and don't work together perfectly, basically, it got rid of my breaks between POVs, so, I'm putting a lone period between POV changes now, so that problem will be gone!

Everyone else: I'm so glad you liked it! I hope to keep updating this often from now on!

Remember: Whoever guesses the watcher right gets a cookie! There are some hints in this chappie! And I'm adding a fourth POV, it's a baddie, so be ready.

An Imperfect Plan

"Y-you're an Uchiha?" He looked like he didn't believe me

"Yes, no more questions, remember? I'll tell you more of the story another day, but let's just get to training!" I was not comfortable talking about this, and, I was starting to itch to go train. It's amazing, after only a week, I was starting to enjoy training again. Of course, by this afternoon, things would be different, but that ramen at lunch will be amazing, even though he goes to the same place EVERY DAY. But, no complaints, he pays.

.

People call me oblivious to emotions. I'm not, I can actually read people better than most, I have just found that if I react as if I can read people, I just get into trouble. I ignore the jeers and yells behind me and just act happy. Anyway, back to the point, I could tell that this was getting really uncomfortable for Tenten, so I suggested that we go train. She was really improving very quickly. She wasn't really learning anything new, just getting back into her old habits, but she still wasn't up to her old strength. But, with enough time, I'm sure she will be.

.

An Uchiha? I needed to go see the Hokage for that.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU HEAR THAT?" Tsunade, apparently, didn't like me knowing that.

"Well, you see, she lives in the Uchiha house and-"

"YOU FOLLOWED HER HOME YOU DIRTY PERVERT!"

"No! It wasn't like-"

"GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!"

Her desk escorted me out.

.

Ramen. It's pretty good. People say I'm obsessed with it. I'm actually not, but I go along with the part. Ramen is cheap, it's filling, it gives meplenty of energy. Ichiraku's serves really good ramen, and the people there don't scorn me. They charge me the same as they would anyone else, in fact, they sometimes give me discounts for being a very frequent customer. They don't judge me. That's the real reason why I love ramen. I never get tired of it.

As we were eating, however, something was bothering me, and I needed to set it right.

.

After lunch, we arrived at the training fields. However, instead of heading right to sparring like we ususally do, Naruto sat down next to a tree.

"Tenten, this morning, you told me the face of one of your darkest secrets, the one that had made you change so much since I met you a few years ago. So, it's only fair that I tell you the face of why I jumped off the Hokage tower. It's why I love ramen and go to the same place for every meal."

SERIOUSLY! He finds RAMEN as big a secret as ME BEING AN UCHIHA?

"It's not actually the food. I mean, they serve great ramen there, but it's the people."

This was a little different than I had expected, but, I'm still in shock from the whole Ramen=secret thing.

"Almost everyone hates me in town, but they don't"

I had noticed this, it was a bit weird. I knew he had done some big pranks in the past, so I just guessed they held grudges.

"You remember Gaara?"

The creepy dude whos now like, Kazekage? What does that have to do with anything? He's just talking about random stuff, isn't he? "Yeah, what about him?"

"I'm like him in more ways than you know."

"How?"

"He has a demon sealed inside him. No more questions, please."

THAT was not what I had expected

.

Yeah, she was shocked. I was nervous that she would hate me for this, but she was probably nervous about what I would think of her being an Uchiha, so I guess it's even. Then, she attacked me with a kuni. Damn, she hates me now and-

"We're behind schedule! Comeon! It's a spar! Fight back!"

I wasn't expecting that!  
.

I watched. I was doing a lot of that lateley. I guess I'm a creeper, oh well, I've been worse things than a creeper before.

.

Demon, huh? He really shouldn't announce these things in public. People like me might be listening in. Oh well, now I know who my target is. I'll watch him for a few days and then see what happens.

.

A Few Days Later:

.

"Tenten! Wake U-"

She wasn't there. "Tenten! Tenten!" I looked all around the place. I found a note.

_If you ever want to see your girlfriend again, meet me at training ground 7 at 10:00 tonight._

How'd she even get captured? This made no sense. But, I'd be there, at 9:30.

.

Damn, he must've druggeed my beer. Dammit, I can't believe I didn't notice it. I'm so stupid!

.

Heh. Worked perfectly. Master Uchiha will be pleased, especially when I bring him the girl too and inform him that she was staying in the Uchiha complex.

A/N: Okay, short chappie, but I just couldn't think of a way to continue without getting into a major fight. So, anyway, please review!


	4. An Imperfect Capture

A/N: So, I guess I was kinda unclear about the whole "Guess-who-the-watcher-is" thing. The watcher is NOT the one who kidnapped Tenten, the watcher is the other one. I have one vote for Jiraiya, but no other votes! DO YOU WANT A COOKIE OR NOT! anyway, next chappie!

An Imperfect Capture

Training Ground 7, 9:30 pm.

I told him to arrive at 10. According to Mr. Uchiha's instructions, he should actually arrive around now. He did just that, arrived exactly a half-hour early. This should be where the fun begins.

Just as expected, he lunged forward, drawing a kuni. I had a simple solution.

"Stop, or the girl dies."

So simple, so perfect, I guess he thought that I'd have her tied up somewhere, hiding her from him, but, as Mr. Uchiha told me, he cares too much for others. I was holding her there with a kuni to her thought.

He paused, then began to make a hand sign, I pressed the kuni just a little bit in, so a tiny trickle of blood came out. Her eyes were round with terror, but the drugs kept her from saying anything. She was very weak at the moment. She could move a few muscles, so she could grab things, but she was so weak that she couldn't even walk. She tried to speak, but only said gibberish.

"Wh-waht have you done to her?"

"Just some medicine, now stand there with your hands behind you back like a good little boy and let my shadow clones take care of you. My clones appeared from behind some woods, and siezed the boy. They made good time in binding him up and gagging him. This was moving faster than expected, at this rate, we might make it back to base before sunrise.

Two clones and I headed out, my clones were each carrying a different present for Mr. Uchiha.

.

This. Was. Not. Good. I can't believe Naruto surrendered like that! He's NARUTO! The Never-give-up-Ninja! Was he THAT scared for me, that he'd probably give up his own LIFE to possibly save mine! We're probably going to be killed anyway, death-by-beheading is probably less painful than death-by-whatever method they're using there! But, even though I'm angry at his stupidity, I must admit to myself that it's nice to know that he cares that much for me...

NO! This is the guy who WANTS to be killed! He threw himself off the damn Hokage Tower! He values his life as nothing! What was I thinking! He only came here because he felt like he needed to! As a responsibility! That is different than caring! In fact, he might be helping me before as a responsibility! It's like seeing a stray puppy! You don't like it, and you don't want to keep it because it's not housebroken, but you feel like you need to take care of it until you can find someone who ACTUALLY cares! No one gives a crap about me or what I do! Who would! I'm just some stupid orphan tomboy and was on the same team as the Hyugga Prodigy! That's my name! It's from other people. No one would care to see me gone. I'm an Uchiha with the Sharingan and no one cares! No one knows! I'll be killed if word gets out! I'll just be shunned! Especially with...

.

Sakura's right. I'm an idiot. She'd have a more painless death if I just let him kill her. Maybe then I'd get the guy, too. Because she was captured, who knows what they'll do to her... I shuddered at the thought.

.

We entered the base blind-folded. Typical. After a while, we entered a room where they put us on the floor and removed the blindfolds. They un-gagged Naruto and slipped something into my mouth. I realized that I was able to talk again, but not move anything else except for my hands, but they had taken all my gear and so I wasn't able to take an anti-toxin. Then, I realized who else was in the room.

"You may leave now." said the voice of none other than Itachi Uchiha as he dismissed the goon who brought us here.

"Hn" He said to Naruto with a tone of approval, then he glared at me. "Why were you brought here? I only told him to bring the nine-tailed-fox-child. Why are you here?"

Nine-tailed- Oh. THAT explains why everyone hates him. THAT must be the demon inside him! HOLY SHIT! Naruto is possibly the most powerful being on the PLANET!

He saw my look of surprise and said, "Oh, you didn't know about the fox, you do now." Naruto growled at him.

"So, back to my point. Why are you here? I've seen you before... Oh! You were the little kunoichi who likes to play with knives! I've heard about you! You see, I know EVERYTHING that goes around Kohona, except WHY YOU ARE HERE!" He looked angry that he hadn't known, then, his eyes changed and suddenly, I was in a different land, one full of Itachi Uchihas. He stabbed me, and I felt the pain of dying, but I didn't even bleed, and the pain lingered "Now, tell me why you are here, or I'll bring you here for three days." After he said that, I came back to the real world and looked at him in horror. I could still feel the knife in my chest.

"I-I'm here," I began, "because I live at the Uchiha complex."

I got another glare, one of haterid and disgust before I quickly added, as the eyes began to change, "My name is Tenten Uchiha!"

"What!"

"My mother was your father's cousin," I explained. "He probably didn't mention her much because she became pregnant before marriage and was shunned by the clan for it. I don't know who my father is. My mother died, however, when I was young. You killed her. She was visiting the clan, begging to be taken back into the clan because she knew that I had inherited the sharingan and had no one to teach me how to use it. However, I did not know that I was part of the clan at the time, she had never told me. The last thing she sent to me was a messenger bird saying that, while she was still not to be accepted by the clan, they had agreed to train me and help me be a great shinobi. They said that on the day that I achieved the rank of Jonin, I would be officially accepted back into the clan. I only received the letter recently, and only then did I find out my true history. I had never known anything about why my mother disappeared. It was a secret kept by the Hokage, that I didn't find out until I became a jonin. She was so happy when," I began to sob, "when she wrote that letter. She had no Idea that less than an hour later she would be brutally murdered." At this point, I was truly crying. Naruto looked at me with heartfelt eyes, and I tried to smile at him. Itachi looked at me unsympathetically. He summoned the guards, and were were carried off to cells somewhere in the base.

.

A/N: Now you know Tenten's story. Pretty sad, isn't it? Well, please review!


	5. An Imperfect Escape

A/N: I have nothing to say except to thank my reviewers and say: vote for a cookie(see previous chapter for details)! Oh! And Yes, Itachi IS alive, this is my own Naruto-verse, so some people who are dead will be alive and some people who are alive will be dead. ON WITH THE CHAPPIE!

An Imperfect Escape

This. Sucks. I mean, SERIOUSLY! I'm stuck here in a fucking cell all tied up and I haven't even gotten a beer in over 24 hours! I hate this place. I'm, to say the least, nervous about what Itachi will do to me. At least Naruto is here. Well, that's not really good, now is it, that means that he's not out there freeing me, seeing as he's always the one Tsunade sends on rescue missions because he's just good at them. If only I had an antitoxin. I wish that I had taken basic medical training or something. My anti-hangover jutsu took me forever to figure out and it's only a simple antitoxin. I guess I'm just not good at medic-nin stuff-wait! My anti-hangover is a simple antitoxin! Maybe...

.

This is not good. Well, might as well go to sleep to save my energ-"Anti-hangover Jutsu!"

Or not. Tenten was untying me.

"Your anti-hangover jutsu worked for this?"

"Yeah, it's an antitoxin!"

"Oh, well, we'd better start running. They didn't even bother to lock the door."

"Really?" She seemed surprised, "Well, that's their problem, now isn't it!"

We started running. "So, when we run into guards, do we run, hide, or fight?"

"Let's fight, because our cover will be broken at some point, so we might as well take out as many as we can before that happens."

Just after she said that, we came across two guards. After a quick fight, one was a pincushon and the other was purple, blue, and bleeding. Not pretty, I know, but it's a ninja's work, and you get used to it after a few years.

.

This was... thrilling. I had to admit it. In a way, I was enjoying this. It was like old times, in a way. It was fun. We fought and ran, fought and ran. However, I remember in old times, there was always some big baddie at the end of the escape, blocking the path. But, this time, there was none. We just... escaped. It didn't seem right. I wonder if they LET us escape. It was all just... too easy. We got out with only a few minor bumps and bruises. Why did Itachi let us go?

.

Too easy. WAY too easy. Itachi must have wanted for us to escape and fall into the trap just around THIS corner! No, wait, THIS corner! No, the trap is... RIGHT HERE.

.

Naruto was doing some weird dance-like-thing. "Stop being an idiot Naruto and come on!" I meant it in the nicest way, but he seemed hurt, "No, come on! I didn't mean it like that!" but it was too late. He ran off with a demon-like speed

.

Idiot. That's what EVERYONE calls me. Either idiot or demon-brat. After I help them with everything I have, they still call me an idiot. Tenten, the one with a secret almost as big as mine, still calls me an idiot. I'm so sick of it all. I don't care if she meant it or not. She still said it. After I've spent these past weeks doing nothing but help her. She still doesn't think of me as more than an idiot.

I ran. I ran until I found a cliff. I jumped off, and there was no net to catch me this time.

.

Gone. The last person who ever cared about me is gone. He ran that way. There's no way I'll ever catch him. He'll probably never come back. No one who ever really cared came back. The person who took them is the other way. Do I even have a reason to be a ninja anymore? Naruto probably just went to kill himself again. That look in his eyes. I can't catch him this time. It's my fault. Can I live with his blood on my hands and after running away from the one who took my only family from me? I don't think I can. I know its suicide, but the only option is to turn around.

So I did. I turned around and ran back into the base

"ITACHI!" I screamed, bursting through the gate.

"Yes?" Said a calm voice behind me, but I wasn't phased at all.

"Sharingan!" I activated mine, it only had one dot, but it was how I never missed. I began throwing weapons, but he blocked each of them. I jumped into the air "Quad Rising Dragons!" (A/N: I've changed her techniques, but remember, she IS jonin, she would have improved since she was what, 14? 16?) He seemed slightly impresssed as he blocked and dodged every attack. I suspected he would. But, he didn't expect this. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Suddenly, there were 5 of me, all using the Quad rising Dragons. There was no way to dodge.

When the barrage cleared, he was nowhere to be seen, I landed on the ground, and quickly jumped as a hand tried to grab my ankle. Damn! He hid underground! He must have copied the headhunter jutsu! I'll try a different approach!

I landed and did two quick backfilps, getting some distance between the two of us.

I pulled out a scroll, inside it, I pulled out two beautiful weapons, the most well-crafted Katanas in the Uchiha Clan. A gift to the police force. I saw it as fitting that they should be used to take down a criminal. Without looking at his eyes, I charged Itachi. Using chakra to speed up my movements. (A/N: I know, the clan wasn't known for their weapons, but as such a large clan, you'd think it would have received some nice gifts in the past) I nearly landed a hit, ripping part of his cloak. I almost landed another one, cutting part of his hair, but that seemed to have angered him, and he began to activate his sharingan. However, using my own Sharingan, I saw this coming and closed my eyes, but with my eyes shut, I only had one option.

Katon; Goukakyou no jutsu! A massive fireball came out of my mouth, I opened my eyes and saw that it was going to hit Itachi dead-on, but, it stopped short. I had run out of chakra, and I was staring right into Itachi's Sharingan.

.

A/N: YAY for cliffies! Review or you might not find out what happens to, well, BOTH OF THEM! Plz Review!


	6. An Imperfect Awakening

A/N: YAY! My favorite person in THE WHOLE WORLD Reviewed! :D DarkSarcasm! AND She voted for the watcher/creeper/stalker/3rd POV being... Sasuke! (I'm counting your vote as this seeing as you mentioned him the most. You can change it later if you'd like) Well, YOU should vote too! It's free and you get a cookie if you're right! You might as well leave a review with your vote because it's RIGHT THERE! Anyway... on to the story!

WARNING: Excessive Swearing in this chapter's, but you've gotta read it because it gives away a MAJOR plot point (I mean, this story is practically pivoted on it)

.

An Imperfect Awakening

.

White walls. What happened? Where am I? Who am I? OH SHIT! I'M DEAD AREN'T I! No, I'm breathing, and, with all the crap I've done, I doubt I'll end up the the white place. I like fire anyway. No, this must be the only option which, in some ways is worse. I REALLY hate hospitals. That means that there's something WRONG with me. I've actually never stayed in one for me before. I've had field medics tend to me, and I've had bones set and the like, but that never involved a bed for me. I've avoided it if at all possible because... because... why again? OH SHITHOLYSHIT THEY PROBABLY TOOK A FUCKING BLOOD TEST THE GODDAMN MOMENT I WAS CARRIED IN HERE!

Wait, why WAS I in here? I remember escaping and... Naruto... and turning around and fighting Itachi and... genjutsu. But, I wasn't tortured. No, he-he showed me something. He showed me why he murdered my mother. He showed me the third. His orders. And he showed me... MY GODDAMN FATHER! I can't believe that HE of ALL PEOPLE would be my goddamn father! He must have been what- 16? 17? MAYBE 18, but, I've known him for so long. He's always been so nice. I had no idea that he could do such a thing to my mother! Just-just leaving her like that! How could he! Was he always so nice to me because of guilt? Damn you Iruka!

.

White. Yay! I made it here! Someone told me once that suicides don't make it here! Guess they were wrong! Now, I feel great! I'm gonna go find my parents! I sat up, and discovered that this wasn't heaven. It was Hell. AKA the Hospital. Damn you fate!

.

The door opened. Tsunade came in. She seemed oddly calm, but I was still on my guard.

"So, I ran your bloodwork, and everything is fine."

Maybe she didn't test fo-

"However, I was curious as to why Itachi spared you, so I ran a genetics test. Did you realize that you had never had one on record. Whenever we tried to take one, you just "happened" to forget or something, and, since it's not really an important test, we always let it slide. I never realized just how important this test was with regards to you until now, Tenten. So, do you want to go by Uchiha or Umino? Well, I guess Uchiha is the legal one unless Iruka-"

"Shut the Hell Up!" I raised my voice at the one who I had idolized for so long. "It's not that simple!"

"Oh really? Do tell."

"Do you know why the Uchihas were massacred?"

"Yes, Itachi went mad and-" I knew she was playing dumb

"No. the real reason."

"Oh? Itachi told you about that one? Well, I guess if I deny it, then you will never fully believe me, and you are right to do so, seeing as he told you the truth."

I looked for a hint of anything but sincerity in that last sentence, and found none.

"He seemed disturbed by my existence, and let me live because he wasn't sure what to do with me and decided that he'd need some time to think it over."

Tsunade nodded

"So, at the moment, I refuse to go by the name of Uchiha."

"That is understandable. How did you find out about your father? You didn't seem surprised about that at all."

"Itachi"

"Really? How did he find out about it?"

"I have no idea."

"Well, that's a problem for another day. As it is, there is someone who wants to see you."

"Wait! Naruto! He-"

"That is also a problem for another day."

"But he-"

"I know." but she was smiling. That was because it was Naruto who just walked in the door.

"You're okay! I thought you'd go jump off a cliff or something!"

He grinned sheepishly, "Well, I kinda did so-"

"YOU DID!"

"Hey! I'm alive!"

"How!"

"I'm not too clear on that myself." We both looked to Tsunade.

"Fine. After you threw yourself off, a ninja who chooses to remain anonymous saw you, ran down the cliff and caught you, but you had already passed out from the shock. Now I'm going to leave you two alone to work out your problems."

I was the first one to speak, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I REALLY overreacted. It's just that word, it-"

"I understand. I think we're both a little emotionally unstable right now, so let's just work out tings the best we can."

He seemed pleased with that response, however, at that exact moment, someone who I was not quite ready to see popped in.

"Hey Naruto!" Iruka said, "I heard you were in the hospital so I came to visit. I asked the nurse where you were and she said you'd be here in Tenten's room! What have you two been getting up to to land yourselves in here?"

"Iruka-sensei, can I talk to you for a moment?" Sure, I was really uncomfortable, but I might as well take care of this now rather than later.

"Sure! Naruto, can you step outside for just a moment?" He still seemed cheerful.

After Naruto left, I decided to head straight to the point. "I know."

"Know what?" Was it possible that he didn't know that I was his own daughter?

"When I became a Jonin, a certain... source informed me of half of my heritage. I have lived as an orphan most of my life, with my mother vanishing when I was very little. As it turns out, my mother was an Uchiha. Uchiha Akemi."

Iruka looked horrified. "S-she was your mother?"

"Yes, and my source didn't tell me who my father was, but, in my fight with Itachi, many different truths were revealed to me, including my biological father." My gaze met his and he seemed to die right before my eyes.

"B-but that's i-impossible! We o-only! Once! She never told me! How could she never tell me! That's why she suddenly started avoiding me! Oh My God! Tenten! I am so sorry!" He broke down in tears.

He never knew. She never told him. He wasn't some bastard escaping responsibility. He never knew he had one.

A/N: Sad ending to this chappie, but I needed to do it. I don't think ANYONE saw that one coming! About Iruka's age, I might be making him a bit older in this than he actually was, but I'm placing him around 25 when Naruto was 7, so Tenten was 8, so he would have been 17-ish. Anyway, PLEAASE REVIEW!


	7. Imperfect Thoughts

A/N: Hey guys! I took last week off because my schedule, sadly, is filling up again and I needed a week to prepare myself! Anyway, because of this, I'm moving to weekly updates. I know its sad, but I just can't pressure myself to do any more than that. I can't tell you what day of the week the updates will be on, but you'll get one every week, even if one is on a Saturday and the next one is on a Sunday, that is both weeks' updates! However, I'm going to put up my new fic soon, which is the sequel to my first fic, The Perfect Housewife. This one will be called Impossibly Perfect. You can probably see a theme with my fic names. I'm not sure if I'll keep it going. It was unintentional for these first two, but I wanted to keep an element from The Perfect Housewife in the new fic title. Anyway, when that goes up, this fic's updates will not be affected! I'll update both stories once a week. Anyway, you should start reading The Perfect Housewife if you haven't already! :D Leave a review for me when you do! Anyway, enough with this, you clicked on this link to read the story, didn't you?

IMPORTANT: This is the last chappie to guess who the watcher is ALL WILL BE REVEALED next chappie and that is when fluff and even more awkwardness are added to the mix! ;)

Imperfect Thoughts

Damn you Naruto! Why must you have demon powers! I'm stuck here in this stupid hospital bed while you're out training! I feel fine! I told them that I'd take it easy for a day or two, but no luck. This is so stupid!

.

Ramen!

Slurp

Slurp

"Naruto?"

"Mhhm?" I asked, mouth full of noodles. Iruka had treated me to Ramen!

I finished my bowl and sat it down. It was my fifth one, a little on the light side for me, but since Iruka had offered to pay, I didn't want to stretch his kindness.

"Walk with me for just a minute."

We exited the stand and he led the way.

I didn't understand why he took me to the top of Hokage mountain, but he seemed serious about something. I don't think that I had ever seen him as lost in thought as he was that day. He sat down on top of a rock and motioned for me to do the same.

"This is where you like to go to think, am I correct?"

"Yeah, it is. Most people never come here and it's nice to overlook the city."

He nodded in understanding. "Well, I need to talk to you about something that you might need to think about for a while."

"Okay, what is it?"

"First, what exactly is your relationship with Tenten?"

"She was... in trouble and needed help. I also needed her help, so we helped each other and became training partners and friends. That's pretty much as far as it goes." I didn't want to give away too much about the information that she had trusted me with, so I was deliberately vague. However, he seemed to understand more than I had said and I wondered what Tenten had told him the other day in the hospital.

"Naruto, I'm going to tell you a story. It's about when I was younger."

I was confused as to what this had to do with me and Tenten, but I went along with it.

"When I was younger, just around your age, I had a girlfriend. She was beautiful and an amazing Kunochi. She was a Jonin while I had only achieved Chunin. Her name was Uchiha Akemi."

An Uchiha? I knew this story could only end badly. Maybe she was related to Tenten, and that's why Iruka was concerned with her.

"Our relationship was going smoothly. We were even discussing marriage, when, suddenly, she started avoiding me. She just broke it off with barely a word, and I never even got to ask her why. I visited the Uchiha complex, but was turned away the moment I asked about her. A few years later, she was murdered in the massacre."

He still hadn't gotten to what this had to do with Tenten, and I was really confused.

"I never found out why she left me, until two days ago, in the hospital with Tenten. She informed me that Akemi had gotten pregnant and that was why she left me. She had been shunned by the clan, so they turned me away at her name. They said that her child could join the clan once she became a jonin and-"

I stopped listening at that point. I had heard this story before, from Tenten. That meant that...

"Y-you're Tenten's father?"

He slowly nodded, he looked me in the eyes, and I saw the pain in them, then he slowly stood up and walked away. I sat there, stunned and lost in thought.

.

Tsunade walked in my room, carrying a tray with the disgusting hospital food. At least there was jell-o on it. It was hard to mess up jell-o.

"You can go."

I spurted out jell-o. "Seriously! I thought the nurse said-"

"I don't care what the nurse says, she doesn't understand how fast my ninja can recover. Go, but no more alcohol!"

"What?"

"No. More. Beer. You've damaged your liver enough! I can't have a ninja needing an organ transplant! Your ID now says that you are not allowed to purchase alcohol. If you steal it and I find out, and, trust me, I WILL find out, then I'll tell Gai about your drinking problem and assign you to private training with him. Anyway, you can go!

I stared at the woman in horror. The saddest part was, she knew EXACTLY what Gai would do to me! Scary lady was just giving me a sickly sweet smile. I bolted for the doo-no window and got out of there as fast as I could. She yelled after me:

"Remember to keep it easy!"

.

The Tenten-Naruto show was the best show in town! That was quite the interesting scene that I just witnessed from outside the hospital. Tenten's skills at scaling down that wall. She WAS on the seventh floor and she was scaling it very fast. So fast that it almost looked like she was falling in her panic to get away from Tsunade. Wait, she WAS falling Damn you and your idiotic ways, Tenten!"

.

Shit

In my rush to get away from the thoughts of Gai's torture, I forgot that I was on the seventh floor. Well, my life wasn't so great anyway. I just think that it's kina ironic that Naruto keeps failing at killing himself by jumpinf off things like this and I did it unintentionally.

Naruto

That thought stuck in my head. Why was I thinking of him at a time like th-

I landed in someone's arms

Yay! I failed at dying by fall too!

I turned and looked into some very familiar eyes.

.

I guess Iruka gave me the final piece. It all made sense, why Tenten was like how I found her. I stood up, thinking about how that just finished the puzzle to give me...

Tenten

I sat back down and started thinking again.

A/N: Hint at the end about the watcher there! Guess for a cookie! All will be revealed! Read the Perfect Housewife and prepare for the sequel in a week or two! That about sums it up!

I can't make my writing better until you tell me how to improve it! REVIEW!


	8. An Imperfect Decision

A/N: Well, no one quite guessed it right, so EVERYONE WHO GUESSED GETS A COOKIE! And, DarkSarcasm gets an extra half-cookie because she said the correct name once of twice, even though it wasn't really a proper guess. Now, here is the correct answer:

An Imperfect Decision

"Neji!" (A/N: Yay Neji! :D ) I was in a slightly awkward position at the moment and was extremely glad when he put me down.

He gave me a glare that only a Hyuga can give. "Why were you falling from the top floor of the hospital screaming about 'Gai-sensei' and 'torture'?"

"Tsunade was threatening me with one-on-one training."

"hn. Why?" Of all the days for the Hyuga to become talkative, it had to be today, didn't it?

"Secret mission. I'm not allowed to tell you." He gave me a glare that said he didn't believe me, but walked away anyway, hand-in-hand with... Sakura! THAT would need some explaining later, but I decided to just let it lie for now.

.

Tenten.

She-she was just my training partner, wasn't she?

I cared for her. She was my friend, but, it just didn't seem the same. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I cared about her.

Her smile.

Her eyes.

The way that she threw her kuni with deadly accuracy straight at my chest.

The look on her face when she saw a steaming bowl of ramen placed in front of her.

Those cute little panda buns on the top of her head.

She made me look forward to every day.

With one insult, she sent me off a cliff.

After all those years and all those insults, why did her one little one make me want to kill myself again?

She can control me.

She had me.

Shit! I'm in love with Tenten

.

Boredom

I don't think I've ever been bored before. All my time has always been spent training or drinking since I became a jonin. But, Evilcrazylady forbid me form training today, so I had nothing to do.

No drinking

No training

It's been a while since I had nothing to do, so I decided to explore the town.

.

Sakura's mouth was moving.

I do believe words were coming out, but I wasn't paying attention, I was just watching her lips move as she talked.

We had to keep our relationship a secret, I would get in trouble with the clan if my relationship wasn't "approved"" by uncle. I doubted that she would not be approved, but I didn't want to put any kind of pressure on things right now.

That was why we were going on our date by traveling on rooftops.

Suddenly I couldn't take just watching her lips anymore, so I pulled her in for a kiss. We were alone, anyway, no one watches the rooftops.

I loved her cherry lip gloss. I kissed her again and-

"EEEEEEHHHH!"

.

Rooftops are much less crowded than the streets. You can move faster and avoid being caught in anything. If you actually want to see something, just hop down.

So, I was just walking along, looking for anything interesting down below. For a moment, I glanced up and saw a sight that I was not expecting.

Neji and Sakura were definitely together.

"EEEEEEHHHH!" I was more than slightly shocked at the sight.

Neji and Sakura both turned around quickly, caught my eyes, and bolted.

I was too stunned to follow.

That would be something interesting to tell Naruto.

Naruto.

He was my one true friend. That was all. That was why I always thought about him. That must be it!

I looked down again and saw some of the old rookie 9 below.

Well, I needed more friends.

I jumped down.

.

If I was in love with Tenten, what did that make Sakura to me? How did I feel about her?

I never felt that way for her. Maybe she was just an old crush that I never quite grew out of.

I decided that that was my answer and left it at that.

It was getting dark, anyway. So, I stood up, but just before I walked down the mountain, I saw two people running up it They were Neji and Sakura. Had I listened closely, I would have overheard Neji say:

"No one ever comes up here. We'll be all alone."

However, I wasn't listening, so I called down to them, "Hey guys! What're you doing all the way up here?"

Another result of my not listening was confusion when they screamed and ran back down.

I decided to leave them alone and go back into town.

Walking down the main street, I ran across Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino. I was just about to say hi when suddenly Tenten joined them. Apparently, Tsunade let her out of the hospital early. I walked up to the group.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi Naruto!" Ino was cheerful. "Wait, you and Tenten, that's PERFECT!"

"Wait, what's perfect?" Tenten seemed confused as well.

"We have two extra tickets!"

"Tickets to what?"

"You didn't know? Well I guess you probably do nothing but train all day, so I guess you wouldn't know that SHY-NO-BEE is in town! They're the hottest band! I got 7 tickets from my parents, but Shino didn't want to go, something about loud noises hurting his bugs, and Sakura said that she was already going with someone, BUT SHE WOULDN'T TELL ME WHO!" Ino was about to start crying

"Snap out of it!" said Choji

"Oh, right, anywhoo, you two can come too!" she gave us a really big smile and passed us two tickets.

At that moment, I made a decision. I'm not sure where it came from, but I decided that I would ask out Tenten by the end of the concert.

A/N: Short, I know, but I was too busy watching Death Note to write. That's a pathetic excuse, but at least I'm honest aobut it. Anyway, REVIEW!


	9. An Imperfect Answer

A/N: You guys have probably seen this get a lot brighter and lighter recently, but, people don't heal that quickly in real life, so I decided to make it darker this chappie! You're going to call me an evil person for this, but it's actually leading up to the climax. Please check out my new fic: Impossibly Perfect! I'm currently writing the second chappie for it, and that's why I haven't updated this in a while! Before you read that one, though, you'll wana read my first fic: The Perfect Housewife, which it is the sequel to. It's not as good as this one, and I hope my writing has improved and Impossibly Perfect will be my best fic yet! I love my crack pairings, and they are Shika/Ten. Oh, just saying this in advance: sorry Sakura fans! Anyway, you did not click this link to read my ramble, here's the next chapter!

An Imperfect Answer

This was SERIOUSLY ticking me off. The music was great, but this dude did NOT understand the proper use of weapons. He was describing some kind of fight in the music and...

_I held the kuni close._

_As close as I'd hold you._

_And let it fly._

"IF YOU HOLD A KUNI CLOSE, YOU CAN'T GET YOUR WEIGHT BEHIND IT AND GET ANY DISTANCE IN THE THROW!"

My cry was lost in the crowd, but Ino heard and gave me a glare that said:

_IT'S A SONG BAKA!_

Oh well, I knew I was right.

At least Naruto was enjoying the concert.

Why did I just think about Naruto again? He's my friend, but I need more friends. I looked around at the rest of my "friends" and was surprised at one sight. Hinata was not, as you'd expect, sitting quietly enjoying the concert. No, she was standing proudly atop one of the arena seats and screaming her little heart out with the song.

I looked back at Ino, and she gave me a knowing, almost proud smirk.

Apparently Ino has rubbed off on the little Hyuuga

.

I'm sure that there was music playing, it being a concert and all. However, I was only thinking of a way to ask Tenten out. When I had made my decision, I never thought to consider that we might not be sitting next to each other. She was completely surrounded by a wall of girls. But, keeping promises is my nindo, so I'd get to her by the end of the concert! On the final chord of the song, I got lucky. The bass guitarist broke a string, so the band had to take a quick break to replace it. This was my chance to be alone with Tenten. There was a snack stand at the back of the arena, I'd just ask her to go get a drink with me and ask her then.

.

Naruto asked me to go to the snack stand with him. However, him being Naruto, he asked me loud enough for everyone else to hear. I sighed at the list of orders that I eventually just wrote down, hoping that they intended to pay me back. While waiting for the poor man behind the counter to get everything from the list that I had, after trying to recite it twice, just handed to him, Naruto turned to me. He looked nervous, of all things. Looking down at his feet, he began to talk.

"Umm, Tenten…"

.

"…I was wondering if you'd go out with me?"

There it was, I had asked my question. It seemed like an eternity, before her lips began to move.

"no."

.

Later that night

The night was fun. I had so much fun with all my friends, or, at least, that's what I kept telling myself. However, my mind kept going back to Naruto. Why had I turned him down? I just, I couldn't accept his offer. Well, that's what I always did, people opened up to me, and I closed them off. Gai-Sensei, Lee, Neji… Yeah, NEJI opened up to me, we became good friends. People thought we were dating, but, we just got too close as friends, and I ran. What was up with me? I thought I had worked through my issues. No, there was no way I had, that was just the way I was. Always fucked up in the head.

As I sat on my couch, wallowing in self-pity, there was a movement outside. I quickly jumped up and entered a fighting stance. The intruder was now inside the house, his eyes met mine.

"What are you doing in the Uchiha complex?"

"S-sasuke!"

The raven glared at me, as if I was some disgusting bug.

"What the hell are you doing in the Uchiha complex you disgusting pig! Only the Uchicha belong here, and they're all dead. Some filthy hobo can't use this as some place to crash!"

Now he was fuming, and I was pretty pissed as well, but I wasn't going to scream back, I just stated, calmly and cooly:

"It's nice to see you too, cousin."

As predicted, he was stunned for a moment, but didn't believe me.

"That's impossible. All the Uchiha are dead." It wasn't much of an improvement, but at least he wasn't going to kill me yet.

"Your brother knew who I was."

Bad choice of words, it appeared like he was going to kill me again. "Filthy rat, I don't want to listen to your lies anymore!" He drew a kuni and began to charge. I parried the blow, but that didn't stop him. He jumped away and began to build up chakra in his arm. I saw the blue fire and heard the chirping birds as he began to charge. It looked like I only had one shot at this. I had been practicing for months, so hopefully I would get it right. As the missing-nin charged towards me, I built up chakra near my eyes. We shouted at the same time.

"Sharingan!"

"Chidori!"

.

She turned me down. She avoided me the rest of the night. She thought I was a freak. She felt awkward around me now. Great, just great. How stupid could I have been? Now I had lost my only friend. I began walking towards my apartment. A bunch of drunken men saw me and started jeering at me. Next thing I knew, they were throwing rocks. I just kept walking. When I reached my apartment, it was ransacked. The entire place, ruined, again. Why the hell did I even bother. I didn't have any friends anymore. I picked up a kuni and held it away from my stomach. Even if I didn't die, maybe the deamon would. I closed my eyes. I felt a sharp pain as it entered my stomach, but nothing else as I fell to the floor.

.

Please don't kill me for the double-cliffy! I'll update as soon as I can! I promise! Another cookie to anyone who can tell me what happens next! I promise you will NOT see it coming! (: Oh, and be sure to check out my new fic: "Impossibly Perfect" it's a Ten/Shika fluff for those who love crack pairings! (Like me!)


	10. Death is Imperfect

A/N: SO Sorry! Wow, I've been so busy lately that I can hardly find any time to write anymore! Sorry for leaving you on a cliffie for so long!

Disclaimer: I'm making one last disclaimer because they are STUPID and I really hate making them, so while this is an odd place: I do not own any copywritten material! I am making no more disclaimers EVER!

One last note: The title is different because this chapter is a big one.

Death is Imperfect

"Sharingan!"

"Chidori!"

Sasuke saw my Sharingan and stopped. "Y-you actually..."

I opened my mouth to reply, but blood came out when I tried to speak. I looked down and saw. He had stopped his charge, but not in time. The shock wore off and I felt the pain just as I felt myself fall forward onto my cousin and the world start to fade.

.

"..."

I don't know how someone could speak silence, but the Uchiha managed it as he sat next to my hospital bed when he saw my eyes open. He then stood up, and walked out of the room, right into the arms of waiting ANBU.

So, I didn't die from the chidori, but I don't know how.

At the moment, I was too tired to care.

I fell back asleep.

.

I woke up, again, this time to see Tsunade sitting next to my bed. "Well, the entire town knows you're Uchiha now."

I grunted

"Why did Sasuke..."

"Why was he here? Well, that's a long story."

_Flashback— 3rd person Tsunade's POV_

_For the first time in weeks, Tsunade had managed the willpower to start on paperwork. That willpower lasted for all of about 5 seconds, so the chunin desperately and quite rudely running into her office without knocking was a pleasant excuse for a break._

"_Lady Tsunade! Its urgent! Uchiha Sasuke has returned!"_

_All thoughts of paperwork gone from her head, Tsunade stood up and barked, "Where!"_

"_He was found outside the hospital holding a dying Jonin!" He read from a piece of paper, "It says someone named 'Tenten'"_

_The chunin found himself looking back up from the paper at an empty desk with the window behind it open._

_._

_Of course, the ANBU were already at the scene, it seemed that Sasuke hadn't even put up a fight. His only concern seemed to be for his cousin. Tsunade silently wondered how he had found out, but decided that she would deal with him later. She shot him a glare that said as much and ran into surgery._

_._

_'Tenten is a lucky girl' Tsunade thought, after 6 hours of extensive surgery to Tenten's internal organs. 'She might be the first person ever in recorded history to survive a direct chidori hit to the stomach. But, it seemed like the punch was pulled, like he changed his mind at the last second and decided to not go through with it. Why would someone as bloodthirsty as Uchiha Sasuke decide to kill someone, but change his mind a the last second?' Her job wasn't over yet, she had to go to get her questions answered first._

_._

"_She was in my house, so I was going to kill her."_

"_But you decided not to, at the last second, Why?"_

"_She showed me her sharingan."_

_Tsunade saw it all too clearly now, he began his charge, and Tenten knew that with his curse mark, she had no way to defeat him, so she activated her sharingan in the hopes that Sasuke would believe her story then, and it worked, but the chidori is a difficult technique to stop, so the chakra continued forward even though he wanted to stop, which is why the wound did not kill her instantly._

"_Why did you bring her to the hospital , when you knew it meant capture?"_

"_I. Will. Not. Be. My. Brother."_

_Killing his own clan. Sasuke sometimes had too much pride, and wouldn't be a hypocrite, even if it meant facing what he had avoided for years: capture._

_There was long silence that filled the room, then Tsuande heard a tone of voice that she would have never expected form the Uchiha—pleading._

"_May I visit her?"_

"_Shes not going to be awake for several days."_

"_That is acceptable"_

.

He had sat by my bed for days, waiting for me to wake up, and, when I did, he left, walking straight back into the arms of the ANBU.

"There's also another story you need to hear, and this one might come as more of a shock to you than Sasuke coming back."

'What could possibly be more of a shock than that?'

Neji entered the room. He whispered something into Tsunade's ear. She stared at him, shock and horror on her face at the same time. He merely nodded. She stood up and exited the room, holding back sobs.

Neji, the emotionless rock, looked at Tenten with pity on his face. "I guess I'm the best one to tell you this."

_Flashback- 3rd Person Neji POV_

_Kohona is set up strangely. It is divided into four horizontal sections. The top one is the government. It is farthest away from the gate to be best protected in case of an emergency. Below it, is the richest section of town, far away from the gate for similar reasons. The bottom of the sections is the middle class. It is where most average ninja are and it would also look bad for the city to have its slums immediately once you enter the gate, so the poorest section of town is between the middle and upper classes. _

_This and a few random coincidences meant that Neji passed by Naruto's apartment on his way back to the Hyuuga compound after dropping of Sakura from her date. It had been such a good day that he took his time and enjoyed the sounds, smells, and, of course, sights of the city. To best enjoy the sights, he, of course, activated his Byakugan._

_Had it not been for all these things, he never would have seen Naruto on the floor with the last of his chakra fading._

_._

_By the time he arrived at the hospital with Naruto, Tsuande was already in surgery and people were running around, muttering something about "Uchiha", but Neji was too determined to care. With Tsunade unavailable, he ran to Shizune and told her what he had seen. After handing over the lifeless blonde, he ran back to Sakura's house. They would need all the help they could on this one._

_._

_Sitting around, feeling useless, Neji pondered on what could have driven the blonde to kill himself. He had never known that he was depressed._

_._

_About 6 hours into the surgery, Neji saw a shocked Tsunade running down the hall into the O.R._

_._

_After a 13 hour surgery, Naruto was alive, but he was in a coma._

_._

_5 days later he heard that Tenten woke up, but on his way to see her, a crying Sakura ran into his arms._

"_I-I couldn't save him!"_

"_Tell me what happened Sakura"_

"_I-I went to check Naruto's vitals, and I talked to him, because they can hear you, you know, and, and."_

"_Calm down Sakura."_

"_I told him that Tenten woke up, and she was gonna be okay, and, it was like that was what he was waiting for, because right after I said it, his heart stopped, and he just- Oh Neji!"_

_She was back to crying_

_Naruto was dead._


	11. Life is Imperfect

A/N: GUESS WHO'S BACK? That's right! ME! WOOT WOOT! I am SO excited! So, ready for this? There will be one, maybe two chappies after this, but mostly to close everything up. Climax ends here!

Just so you know, this chappie is gonna be all angsty and such.

* * *

Chapter 11- Life is Imperfect

The media, stories, books, and such all describe traumatic events as a huge wave, knocking you over, making you unable to stand. It is supposed to hit you like a bullet in the chest, knocking you over, causing so much pain, and killing you inside instantly.

They are wrong.

When Neji finished his story, the best way to describe what was inside me was... nothing. I was numb. I just looked at him dumbly, as if I expected him to finish. You would think that you would cry when you hear about someone's death, but I couldn't.

Maybe part of me was simply in denial. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that the "Never-Give-Up Ninja" just gave up on life. I knew he was just as messed up as me and suicidal, but this was... different.

Neji gave me a blank stare. "It is acceptable for one to show weakness at the death of a friend, Tenten."

Oh, he wanted me to cry, to show how I felt, to express my pain.

How could I do that when I felt nothing.

"Tenten, are you not emotionally troubled by the death of your training partner?"

Oh, Neji knew of our training. That's fine. I wonder how? My mind began to wander.

"Tenten, look at me."

My gaze slowly shifted to show his pale face.

"Your head was not injured in the accident, and this medicine does not impede your thinking. The only assumption I can make from this is that you never really did care for Naruto. You only used him to get stronger, didn't you?"

I seemed unable to reply. I don't understand why.

"Tenten, you make your family name proud." Neji sent me a disgusted look and stormed away.

Family name? Oh, he must be referring to the Uchiha name. Me using Naruto for power? Making my family proud? Oh, he is referring to Sasuke. Sasuke. Where is he? Oh, taken by ANBU. That's right. He was taken, then Tsunade came in, and then left, crying, leaving for Neji to...

Neji. He just walked out. Disgusted at me. I should call him back.

"Neji, wait."

My voice was weak, as if it had not been used in a long time, despite my conversation with Tsunade only five minutes prior. Neji was long gone.

Neji left because he was disgusted with me, for not caring about... Naruto's death...

I guess I just don't understand.

.

A nurse came in to check up on me after what seemed like mere minutes, but was actually hours. I had been too lost in my thoughts to notice. I came to a sudden decision, turned to the nurse, and made a request.

"Let me see him."

I needed some confirmation. The situation was too impossible, too fast, too second-hand. I needed to see what was going on for myself.

"Excuse me miss? To whom are you referring?"

What did she mean, who? Who else would matter to me? My cousin? Not likely. I firmly restated myself.

"Naruto. Let me see him."

She gave me a very confused look, then continued as if talking to a dumb person.

"Um, miss, the Uzumaki boy passed away earlier this afternoon. The funeral-"

I didn't care about the funeral! I needed to see him NOW!

I turned to face her, Sharingan activated, pulled the IV out, as well as the monitors they had attached to me. "Take me to see him."

.

Hall after hall of this godforsaken place. Why had they hidden him in the back? Oh, that's right. Because he's a daemon. Well, congrats Kohona, you killed him. They probably will claim that daemons are not mentally stable and that drove him to suicide, when it really was the people, their abouse and neglect. Their rejection.

Rejection.

Right before he killed himself, we were at the concert, and Naruto asked me...

I rejected him.

But no one would kill themselves for that, would they? Lots of people are rejected lots of times, and they are still alive! Why would he?

Because you were his last crutch, and he thought you broke.

Oh Naruto, you baka! I didn't stop caring for you! I really liked you! I wasn't going to stop just because of that! I even cared for you in that way too!

Then why did you say no?

I just-

I don't know.

And now I'll never get to set it straight.

It's all my fault. He dies because of my hesitation. They taught us that in basic training, never hesitate. But I did, and now he's dead.

All because of me.

We reached the door, and I pulled open the handle to the dark room, the tears that Neji had wanted before finally running down my face. The best way to describe my heart was as lead. Poisonous, leaking death into my bloodstream, while still being so heavy that I feared it would fall into my stomach with the weight of the guilt. Bricks fell on it as my eyes saw the cold, lifeless lump of blonde and red on the bed.

I dragged myself over to the nearest chair and collapsed, eyes traveling to the cold body next to me. A hand was dangling slightly to the left of my face, and I found myself taking it in both of my own. Slowly, my fingers traced the soft lines and hard callouses, built up from years of weapons training. I know because they match those of my own. Just by his dead hand, I could see that he preferred kuni over senbon or shurekin, although the second has made an impression as well. He trained diligently day after day to become stronger, then, he just... gave up, on himself, and on life. Now, as I felt this lifeless and unmoving body, reality hit me.

He was dead.

He was never coming back.

He- stirred.

Yes, that's right, the dead nin just stirred, and the nurse behind me gasped as a flicker appeared on the heart monitor. Maybe I should have registered the nurse running down the hall, but I was a little preoccupied watching someone rise from the dead. I heard the voice of the "dead" boy, as he croaked out the first words of his newly regained life.

"I get the picture, damn fox. I try to kill myself, so you punish me by bringing me back as slowly and painfully as possible. Nice."

I don't know if my laughs were from his statement, relief, joy, or any mixture of emotions. All I knew was that he was back.


	12. Imperfectly Ever After

A/N: FINAL CHAPPIE! I know, it's so sad, but I will soon go back and pick up my third story. I wrote one chapter for it and then abandoned it temporarily to focus on this one. I'll update that one as soon as I have time, even though that might be another month since this one is crazy. It gives you plenty of time to read my first fic _Imperfect Timing. _Just so you know, I made a bunch of stupid mistakes in the beginning of that one, but I'm not going to go back and fix them for a while since I barely have time to write new chapters. Well, enough shipping my other fics, here is the end of this one!

Imperfectly Ever After

"T-tenten? Why are you-" The rest of my sentence was lost as I felt a hand on my cheek. No, she wasn't about to kiss me and was caressing my cheek. She just pulled a Sakura and hit me across the face with a strength that only a ninja could have.

"That one is for making everyone depressed!" She drew back again. "This one is for me personally!"

I didn't even feel her second punch. Well, I did, and it hurt like hell, but I was too lost in my thoughts to care much. People actually cared about me? "People were... sad?" I didn't realize that my thoughts had vocalized.

"Naruto, you really are an idiot at times! If I hit you once for each person who cared, you'd probably die for real this time! What in the world made you do it this time?"

Why had I decided to kill myself? My thoughts snapped back to the concert. "Y-you hate-"

"I hate you? Seriously? If that's the reason, then you need a reality check. Every time that you asked Sakura out and she rejected you, did it make her hate you? I didn't even mean to say no. I don't really know why I did, but I'm as messed up as you are! Maybe I have commitment issues or something?" She let out a short laugh. "You have to come up with a better reason then that!"

"B-but you said-"

"What do I have to do to get you to believe me?" Her hand was on my cheek again, but this time she actually was caressing it. She was bending forward slowly and I felt my arms embracing her as her lips touched mine.

… Somewhere in a hidden ANBU cell, many years later... (POV of a guard)

"Sasuke Uchiha?" An ANBU captain walked into the interrogation room across from the prisoner. A metal cage was all that separated the one in the fox mask from the former traitor.

The prisoner responded "Don't call me that anymore."

"Fine, just Sasuke. Are you certain of your decision? We might be able to re-"

"I'm sure."

"Before we do this, at least tell me why."

The raven-haired boy sighed. "I hated my brother for betraying my clan and Kohona, but, I did the same. By leaving the last member of my clan alone, as he did, and betraying the city. I no longer deserve to be called a ninja. I have every confidence that the clan will be rebuilt now, so I have no need to remain, especially as I will only bring shame to the family."

"Then it is final. At your request, you are banished from the Uchiha clan and your Sharingan will be sealed."

The boy only gave his usual "hn."

The one in the mask, however, understood the thank you. "On a slightly less official note, your parole begins in five months. I am to remind you that you are not to use any ninja abilities or purchase any weapons during this time. You will receive more details as that date nears." Despite the lack of response, the ANBU continued, "I will not see you again until that time."

Sasuke watched the captain stand up and walk towards the door. He noticed a hesitation at the door. The captain turned around. "I look forward to when we meet again. We have a lot of catching up to do, cousin." Then she left.

Sasuke gave one last smirk before disappearing into his cell.

...Not much later, Uchiha compound, living room... (Naruto POV)

We were planning our wedding. I know, I couldn't believe it myself! Especially after I made such a fool of myself during the proposal.

_Flashback: _

"_Here is the champagne. The waiter came with the two tall glasses. I had taken my girlfriend to a wonderful restaurant and I was planning on the most cliché proposal ever: the ring in the champagne. I knew that it was overused, but I figured that I had little to no chance of embarrassing myself. Of course, I managed to do that anyway. After dinner was finished, I noticed that she was finishing her glass, but still hadn't noticed the ring. She drank the last drops and I started to worry. "Wait, um, Tenten? Was there anything in your glass?" She checked it and shook her head. "B-but there was supposed to be-" I stopped myself there. I couldn't give it away! When the check came, I asked the waiter about the champagne._

"_Sir, we have proposals done like this all the time. If you look at that glass there, it is specifically marked for this type of thing."_

_At this point, I nearly started crying. Not only did Tenten know what was going on now, but the glass that he pointed out was the one that I took from his tray. Worse yet, there was no ring in it._

_I let out a small belch._

For some reason that I could not comprehend, she found the situation hilarious and said yes. Now we were planning our wedding. Of course, it was the big news around Kohona, the deamon boy marrying the Uchiha girl. Sakura was pretty pissed that it beat her announcement with Neji a few weeks prior. Now, everything was happy, even with a lot of boring planning and such. Everything was great between us, well, except for one thing.

"Why do I have to be the one to change my name? Doesn't the girl usually do that kind of thing?"

Tenten threw a box of blank wedding invitations at her fiance. I didn't bother dodging, knowing that she'd throw something worse next time if I did.

"A couple reasons, one being that I have the big, pretty clan name to hold up."

"So do I!" I really didn't have much of a problem with it, but I felt the need to complain. "The Nam-"

" You still go by Uzumaki!"

I had no good response to that, so I huffed and set to working on the invitations. Soon she was on the couch beside me. And quickly gave me a peck on my cheek.

"I love you soon-to-be Uchiha Naruto."

THE END

So, did you like it? I tried to go for a little bitter-sweet with Sasuke, but he will be out in time for the wedding! Tell me how you like this, how I can improve, whatever! Even if you didn't take the time to review for any other chapters, please do so for this one or for the story as a whole! Thank you for your time and your feedback! I really love you guys! :D


End file.
